Calls for changes at supermarkets to combat 'shrinkflation'
The Liberal Democrats want government legislation amended to legally require large supermarkets to inform shoppers when the quantity of goods within a pre-packaged product has decreased thereby increasing the price per unit of measurement.
Details of the changes would need to be attached or placed alongside the product for a 60-day period, according to the amendment tabled to the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill.
Digestive biscuits, butter, crisps and chocolate bars were among the items found to have decreased in size while their unit cost increased, according to 2024 research by Compare the Market.
MPs could be asked to vote on the Lib Dem proposal on Wednesday when the Bill returns to the Commons for its report stage.
The Bill as a whole gives powers to ministers to regulate the marketing and use of goods in the UK after Brexit.
It was previously amended in the House of Lords to provide protections to the imperial pint measure to ease fears over its future.
The changes accepted by the Government would bar ministers from preventing or restricting the use of the pint in relation to draught beer, cider or milk in returnable containers.
It also provides a definition of a pint as 0.56826125 cubic decimetres.
Lib Dem trade spokesman Clive Jones said: 'The scourge of shrinkflation needs to be exposed.
'Shoppers have been hammered during a cost-of-living crisis all while massive companies and big supermarket chains are forcing them to pay more for less to protect their bottom lines.
'They need to be called out on it and for shoppers to know when they are at risk of being ripped off.
'The Government should accept this Liberal Democrat amendment so that we can help protect shoppers and their already stretched household budgets from another round of shrinkflation.'
A Department for Business and Trade spokesman said: 'We're committed to protecting consumers from unfair commercial practices and making sure they have all the information they need to make informed decisions on purchases.
'That's why we're bringing in strict new laws next year to make sure businesses use clearer labelling for prices on supermarket shelves, and retailers show all unit prices in either kilograms or litres to improve clarity for shoppers.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
44 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Navarro responds to Musk-Trump feud
By Published: | Updated: Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro brushed off the exploding feud between President Trump and Elon Musk by comparing the world's richest man to something a consumer might forget about in the back of the fridge. Navarro, a Trump loyalist who served four months in prison for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena, was among the first Trump Administration officials on camera after the Trump-Musk clash went into meltdown mode. The two men were completely at odds over Trump's tariffs, which prompted a reporter to ask Navarro at the White House whether he was glad to see Musk out of the fray. 'No, I'm not glad. Whatever,' Navarro replied. 'It's – people come and go from the White House. He was a Special Government Employee with an expiration date,' Navarro said. Musk served in government as a 'Special Government Employee,' and the administration cited the 130-day limit when explaining his departure, although Trump had the power to renew it. Trump himself used language Thursday that gave the impression he fired Musk. 'Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave,' Trump wrote in just one of his slams on his former first buddy. Later, Navarro, 75, had something nice to say about Musk's team of programmers and aides who got access to agency computer systems and searched for contracts. 'I work with the DOGE folks a lot here, and I've got a very special project, which at some point I'll come out here and talk about with them,' Navarro said. He claimed to have identified a government computer program that 'is run like a 1950s IBM punch card operation at great expense.' 'We're going to turn that from a Model T into a Ferrari,' he said. But he refused to divulge specifics on an extraordinary intervention. 'Stay tuned,' he said. Navarro has been a key proponent of Trump's tariffs, during both the first and second term, helping promote Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs that the administration calls 'reciprocal' to hit back at countries running a trade surplus with the U.S. In his stunning clash with Trump Thursday, Musk wrote that 'The Trump Tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year.' That put him at odds with Trump's cherished policy – and Trump's 'favorite word' in the dictionary – even while taking on Trump's 'big, beautiful bill,' which is Trump's top legislative priority. Navarro tried to smooth over the policy differences.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
The new Indian railway arch bridge 35m higher than Eiffel Tower
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Chenab Railway Bridge, the world's tallest railway arch bridge at 359m above the Chenab River, 35m taller than the Eiffel Tower, in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. The bridge, a key part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project, connects the Kashmir region with the rest of India via an all-weather rail line, spanning 1,315m and designed to last 120 years. Construction involved stabilising slopes in the fractured Himalayan geology, using cement grouting, steel rod reinforcement. The USBRL project, approved in 2003, includes 36 tunnels and 943 bridges, costing Rs437.8bn (£3.7bn), with the Chenab Bridge alone costing approximately Rs14.86bn (£128m). The Chenab Bridge is expected to significantly reduce travel time between Katra and Srinagar to three hours via the Vande Bharat Express.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
How much Elon Musk stands to lose in Trump spat as his staggering government contracts are revealed
Elon Musk 's revenge war against Donald Trump has seen the Tesla billionaire savage his former boss with toxic insults on his platform X. But it might be the president who gets the last laugh - as the fallout threatens to lose the SpaceX founder billions of dollars. Trump has threatened to cut off huge federal loans and subsidies to Musk's companies after they fell out over the 'Big Beautiful Bill'. In the last twenty or so years, the tech guru's firms have received some $38billion in government contracts, according to The Washington Post. 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' Trump wrote on Thursday. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' The threat came after the world's richest man, worth over $330billion, torched Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' as a ' disgusting abomination,' largely because it's projected to add trillions of dollars to the deficit. Tesla and SpaceX - Musk's biggest companies - have received by far the most help from the government over the years. SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell estimates that SpaceX has gotten $22billion in federal spending. And last year alone, at least a quarter of the rocket designer's revenue came directly from federal contracts valued at $3.8billion. Tesla has already had $11.4billion in regulatory credits from environmentally-focused federal and state programs looking to boost the number of zero-emission vehicles. At least $2.1billion of that total has been to help Tesla develop new cars and improve upon its battery technology, according to advocacy group Good Jobs First. Trump hasn't yet said he wants to get rid of these regulatory credits, which is good for Musk because his companies get these credits for free and can sell them for virtually 100 percent profit. Though these credits make up a relatively small percentage of Tesla's revenue, they represent a staggering 32 percent of the company's profits since 2014, according to E&E News. What could be worrying to Musk is that there are 52 ongoing contracts with seven different government agencies that are set to pay his companies an additional $11.8 billion over the next few years, according an analysis from The Post. If Musk as DOGE chief was able to cancel government contracts he felt were wasteful, there's no reason to believe Trump as president wouldn't be able to do the same to Tesla, SpaceX and others. Starlink, a satellite internet service, is one of Musk's smaller companies and is far less reliant on government assistance. While Tesla and SpaceX have received billions, Starlink has only gotten about $6 million from various federal agencies in 2022 and 2023. That includes a pledge from the Department of Defense back in 2022 to buy $1.9million worth of Starlink technology. Though Starlink may be able to weather a potential boycott from Trump, investors are worried about Tesla's fortunes given its large reliance on the federal government. Shares of Tesla plummeted nearly 12 percent on Thursday, when the worst of the jabs between Trump and Musk were happening. It's stark reversal from just several months ago, when Trump was helping Musk sell Tesla cars on the South Lawn of White House. Before markets closed on Thursday, Musk dramatically claimed that Trump is in the Epstein files, which he said explained why they haven't been released in full by the Justice Department. Trump didn't directly respond to the Epstein accusation, instead posting what amounted to a shrug on Truth Social. He also shifted the focus back to the 'big, beautiful bill,' which he continues to vehemently support despite Musk's qualms. 'I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,' Trump wrote. 'This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress.' Musk's attacks on the bill further complicates its passage in the Senate, where the 53 GOP senators already weren't in lockstep on certain provisions.
